N.F.L. Players’ Union Says It Will ‘Prepare for War’ Over New Contract

MINNEAPOLIS — The N.F.L. Players Association said it was preparing for protracted contract negotiations with the league over the collective bargaining agreement, which expires after the 2020 season.

“We prepare for war,” DeMaurice Smith, the association’s executive director, said on Thursday at the union’s annual news conference. “If we’re able to get a collective bargaining agreement done, that’s great. But all of these men went through a unilateral declared war on players in 2006, and 2010 and 2011,” and are prepared for a long battle again.

Appearing alongside several players, Smith said that there was no chance the union would extend the current agreement.

“Collective bargaining agreements are grinding, exhausting elements that come out of two parties that want fundamentally different things,” Smith said. “So I can’t imagine a world where you simply put a page on the back of it that says ‘this document is extended until 2035.’”

The N.F.L. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Smith and the players said they would focus on a wide range of issues, including the commissioner’s right to suspend players, rookie contracts and health care coverage. The union members also said they would try to win a larger portion of the leaguewide revenue that they divide with the owners.

“And obviously, we want 99 percent of the revenue,” Eric Winston, the association’s president and a Cincinnati offensive lineman, said jokingly.

Winston added that the players opposed extending the season to 18 games, from 16 games, an objective of some owners.

“I don’t see how it makes the game better,” Winston said. “I don’t see how it accomplishes the objectives, whether it is public safety, whether it’s performance, whether it’s a product issue.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B12 of the New York edition with the headline: N.F.L. Players Dig In for a Contract Battle. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe